Brazilian men's and women's pairs achieved undefeated feats to grab gold medals at the fifth stage of the South American continental qualification for Nanjing 2014

Lima, Peru, May 5, 2014 – Brazilian pairs Lanci/Souto and Ramalho/Hoffman shone in Agua Dulce Beach, grabbing the top spots in the fifth stage of the South American continental qualification tournament for the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games.

In the men’s gold medal match, Brazilian duo Lanci/Souto was forced by Venezuela’s Hernandez/Gomez to play a point by point stretch but broke loose from the Venezuelan pair with a 30-28 win in the thrilling first set. Lanci/Souto grabbed the win finishing the second set with a narrow margin 21-19.

“The match with Venezuela was very difficult, we knew we played well tactically, technically, and physically against an opponent who had very good defence,” said Brazil’s Arthur Lanci.

Uruguay team Vieyto/Cairus took the easy path in grabbing bronze as Argentina’s Aveiro/Leon withdrew from the match due to injury.

In the women’s tournament, Brazil’s Ramalho/Hoffman maintained the high-level of play they showed throughout the tournament as they defeated Argentina’s (Hiruela/Verasio) in straight sets in the final 2-0 (21-18, 21-14) to top the women’s podium.

“Argentina played very well at the start of the match but we played a good game and got good support from our coach, who brought out the best in us to win this title,” said Andressa Ramalho Cavalcanti.

The sixth and final qualifying stage will be played in Buenos Aires, Argentina from May 16 to 19, 2014, that will define the six men’s and women’s teams who will go to Nanjing, China for the Youth Olympic Games.